Out of Breath (Breathing, #3)(117)

‘Oh, good idea. Thanks, TJ!’

Emma covered her mouth, trying to stifle a laugh.

Nate shuffled two decks together, and I noticed Emma bouncing her leg anxiously, biting at her lip.

‘Here, this will help.’ Brent handed her a margarita, pulling in his chair so it about touched hers. Emma hesitated, then took a large gulp.

I shot Brent a warning glance, and he scooted his chair a few inches towards Kim.

TJ’s ‘friends’ seemed more interested in taking off their clothes than answering questions, so in no time, they were stripped down and in the pool, with TJ and Brent in quick pursuit. So far, the questions hadn’t been horribly invasive, but then again, I hadn’t been asked any either.

Then, with Serena’s first win, she asked, ‘Emma and Evan, strip or truth?’

I braced myself. ‘Truth.’

‘Truth,’ Evan concurred.

‘What was your favourite high-school moment?’ Serena asked, eyeing the two of us.

She was really doing this to me, wasn’t she?

‘That’s not a very revealing question,’ Darcy complained.

‘Hey! No feedback from the naked losers in the pool!’ Sara hollered.

I knew what she was doing, trying to get me to recall a moment with Evan, but I wasn’t going to give in to her ploy. ‘The night of my first football game. I stayed at Sara’s, and she performed one of her notorious makeovers. I even let her cut my hair.’

‘You did that?’ Evan said to Sara.

‘Yes, I did,’ Sara said proudly.

‘Nice.’ Evan nodded, his eyes distant in remembrance. ‘The night pink became my favourite colour.’

I sat very still, trying hard not to react. Sara smiled, her eyes twinkling. ‘My fault.’

Evan laughed lightly.

I needed to cool my cheeks with the frozen drink. Evan was playing right into their meddling. ‘What are you doing?’ I pleaded. His eyes flickered in confusion.

‘Evan?’ Serena prompted, pulling him away from trying to read my expression. ‘What was yours?’

‘My favourite moment wasn’t actually at school. It was the night of SATs.’ Before I could elaborate, Emma started coughing loudly. When she excused herself from the table, I went after her.

As soon as I got near enough, her coughs ceased.

‘Evan, seriously, what are you doing?’

‘What? You said to answer questions.’

‘But you don’t have to be so honest,’ she said in a yelling whisper.

‘Emma, they’ll have no idea what I’m talking about. Besides, I think honesty might do us some good right now,’ I pointed out. ‘What do we have to lose?’

She stared at me in shock, unable to believe I’d just said that. I was wondering where it came from myself.

‘You want honesty?’ she challenged. She walked over to the table, gripped the back of her chair and announced, ‘I want to retract my answer.’

‘I knew I wasn’t your favourite high-school moment.’ Sara grinned knowingly.

‘I was in the Art room, and Evan had just returned from San Francisco and –’

‘That’s all they need to know,’ I interrupted, suddenly understanding her aversion to too much honesty.

‘I get it,’ I whispered as we sat back down.

‘Thought you would,’ she teased.

‘Okay, then,’ Jared intercepted. ‘Whose turn to deal?’

‘I’ll deal,’ I said.

Meg won the next hand and chose Evan and Jared. Jared took off his shirt, and Evan opted to answer a question. The way the questions were going, I thought I’d rather deal with him taking off his shirt.

‘If you had to choose between Jared and Emma, who would you choose?’

Evan stared at her in disbelief with his mouth open. ‘What kind of question is that?’

‘A difficult one – that’s the point.’

Evan stalled, flipping his eyes between me and Jared. Every time he opened his mouth, nothing came out.

‘Meg, that’s an impossible question,’ Sara accused, trying to take the pressure off Evan.

Jared was struck with the conflict that Evan was having about the same time I was, and we stared at him in amazement.

‘It’s your brother, right?’ I prodded, my voice low. ‘It’s okay, Evan.’

But he continued to struggle with the answer.

‘Well, it’s a good thing we aren’t trapped in a fire.’ Jared laughed. ‘We’d both be done for if Evan was standing outside, deciding who to go in after.’

‘Forget that one, Evan,’ Meg said, her eyes smiling. ‘We don’t want you to give yourself an aneurysm deciding. How about this – what was your first impression of Emma?’

‘Meg!’ I yelped. She grinned.

Serena leaned in closer, awaiting his answer. I flipped the card that was in front of me over on the table, unable to make eye contact with anyone.

‘More margarita?’ Nate offered, holding out a fresh pitcher to top off my glass.

‘Thanks,’ I accepted, starting to feel the effects of the first two glasses, but not enough to ease the anxiety in my stomach.

‘The first time she spoke to me, she told me off,’ Evan said.